Books: Storm in an Espresso Cup

Time was when a fictional hero sold his soul to the Devil; nowadays the
Devil often seems to sell his to the hero. Manhattan-born Sigrid de
Lima, 37, has attempted a novel in the older fashion, but before Praise
a Fine Day ends, her nameless painter-hero appears more devilish than
the odd bargain he makes and breaks.

The expatriate American hero-heel, who tells this story in first-person
flashback, has a code of sorts. He believes that arty ends justify
ratty means. Setting up his easel on Rome's Spanish Steps, he sketches
the pigeons...